


Summer Nights

by emygirl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 1930s, Beaches, Best Friends, Cuddling & Snuggling, Friendship/Love, M/M, Nighttime, Platonic Cuddling, Pre-Slash, Sleepy Cuddles, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 19:34:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4847678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emygirl/pseuds/emygirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Bucky are visiting Bucky's cousins beach house when Steve decides the attic is too hot to sleep in, so they go and sleep outside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer Nights

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic ever so please be gentle with the criticism. I'm more than open to critiques and advice. Thanks guys, and please let me know what y'all think!

Stucky summer nights

Steve’s blond hair felt plastered to his forehead when reached up to swipe it back. He let his arm fall back down limply at his side. He lifted his head off the damp pillow just enough to flip it over to the cool side in a vain attempt to get comfortable despite the sweltering heat. They were sleeping on the attic floor which had to be the hottest floor of the house. The roof above them was studded with exposed nails and wires from the recently installed electric lights. The two windows on either side of the roof were open as wide as they could go and let in breeze and moonlight that cast its beam over some scattered boxes and board games. Steve thought to himself that this heat was giving Brooklyn summers a run for their money. Bucky stirred a few inches away from him on their shared cot and opened a sleepy eye at Steve. 

“Is it morning?” Bucky mumbled, still mostly asleep.  
“Not yet. sorry Buck, can’t sleep. Too hot, and I’m itchy all over from sweat.”

Bucky pushed himself up on one elbow and pulled his tank top away from his wet, sweaty chest. It didn’t help much.

“Yeah, it’s unbearable.” Bucky said as he relaxed back down on the cot. Steve laid back down too. 

Their movements made the attic floor shake a little, the lightbulb above their heads swayed. Steve hoped it didn’t wake Bucky’s cousins downstairs. Bucky had been invited by his cousins to come to their summer house on the beach in Connecticut, and naturally he took Steve along. The ocean was a wonderful far cry from Brooklyn and Steve never want to go back. The air was so clean and fresh he hadn’t had an asthma attack since arriving at the seashore. And they had been running, playing badminton, riding bikes and doing everything that would usually set off an attack. Steve was in absolute paradise here.  
Steve grabbed the scratchy cotton sheet that had been covering them both and sat up. He swung his legs over the cot and stood up, yanking the sheet off the bed, and Bucky. 

“What gives?” Bucky looked over at Steve and groaned, trying to go back to sleep.  
“I’m going to lay out on this sheet in the grass outside and you’re welcome to join me or roast up here.” Steve whispered as he started tiptoeing down the rickety stairs. 

Bucky stared at the ceiling for a moment before getting up and quietly following Steve down the stairs. They moved as quietly as they could over hundred year old floorboards that squeaked and groaned with every step. Occassionaly a board would creak and Bucky would shove Steve for making noise, or a stair would groan and Steve would grab Bucky's arm and pause for a second to listen for signs of his cousins waking up. They began to stifle their giggles and shush each other by throwing the sheet at each other’s head as they got closer to the screen door. Steve held the door for them both and exhaled deeply when the cool night hit his sweaty body. Even from the doorway Steve felt the heat evaporate off his body and he started to breathe easier in the clear night air. He shut the door silently behind them. As soon as Steve got outside, Bucky jumped up on his back and they tackled each other to the ground in a tickle fight for almost waking up Bucky’s relatives. After a few seconds of laughing and rolling around, Bucky fell back on the dewy grass and laughed. 

“This is so much better than the attic, thanks for listening to me,” Bucky said.  
“Coming out here was my idea you punk.”  
“Yeah yeah, just lay the sheet out over here.”

They stood up to brush the grass and dirt from their tank tops when Bucky muttered, “oh to hell with it,” and yanked the tank top over his head and threw it over the line in one swift move.  
Steve paused with his hands on his shirts, about to brush off some grass, and decided to follow suit. He tugged his sweat soaked shirt over his head and spread it over the line next to Bucky’s bunched up shirt which he smoothed out to match his. Together they took the ends of the bedsheet and pulled it taut over a patch of grass near the porch. Bucky had already laid down on the sheet with his hands clasped behind his head and was starting to settle in for the rest of the night, when Steve said,

“We didn’t bring pillows.”  
“Shucks, guess we didn’t. Want me to run in and grab some?  
“And risk almost waking up your cousins again? I was shocked we didn’t the first time. Nah it’s ok.”

Steve plunked down next to Bucky.. He felt the cool air flow through this damp hair and brush over his shoulders. He heard crickets chirping in the tall beach grass that grew all over the yard and thickly next to the little river that ran into the ocean, not even 200 feet away from where they were laying. Steve laid back on the sheet and reveled in all the beauty and sounds around him. He closed his eyes to listened to, and timed his breathing with the movement of the waves. They were close enough to the water where he could hear each wave break on the rocks and the distant cry of seagulls. 

“Bucky, listen, what do you hear?” Steve asked Bucky.  
Steve glanced over at Bucky to see him open his eyes and look up at the stars.  
“Nothing,” Bucky replied, closing his eyes again to fall asleep  
“Well, not ‘nothing’ Buck. But yeah, I get ya. "Nothing." No babies screaming, no car horns, no street noises, no 4am paper boy, no subway bells…”  
“Ok I get it. It’s definitely the bee’s knees. It’s a shame more of the world can’t be beaches.” Bucky said.  
“And have you noticed I haven’t had a single asthma attack since we got here?  
“Hey yeah you haven’t! That's great! We should try to move out here.”  
“Bucky we’re 13, what are we gonna do?”  
“I don't know. We’ll think of something.”  
Steve smiled and looked back up at the sky.  
“This is perfect Bucky, just perfect,” he sighed and relaxed into the grass. 

He wished he could take root here and become a permanent part of the environment. He looked up at the stars and tried not to take them for granted. His first night at the cottage a few weeks ago had been a shock to the senses. The yellowish glow of Brooklyn night sky only allowed a few stars to shine through, so Steve had never seen more than a few stars in his life. With only a few dim lights around every star in the sky seemed to shine just for Steve and Bucky. He was mesmerised by the dark sky laden with more brilliant dots than he ever imagined there could be. He wondered if this is what Van Gogh saw when he painted “Starry Night.” If so, he understood the beauty behind the painting. If he hadn’t been so comfortable laying next to Bucky, he would’ve gone inside to grab his sketchbook to try and capture the sheer magnificence of the sky above them, but he doubted he could anyway. Bucky spoke and stirred Steve from his thoughts. 

“I think I’m finally drying out Steve.”  
“Same here,” Steve said as he picked his head up to fluff his nearly dry blond hair.  
“If you still need a pillow, my arm’s kinda soft if I don’t flex it.”  
Steve laughed at that.  
“No seriously!” Bucky protested. “Poke it.”

Steve rolled his eyes and poked Bucky’s arm. It was indeed smooth and soft. Bucky always seemed to strong, even as a 13 year old. He shrugged. It made sense. Bucky’s body matched his personality when he relaxed. He was tough when he wanted to be, but around Steve he was his natural relaxed and soft self that Steve knew and loved. 

“Ok.” Steve said.  
Steve snuggled up closer to Bucky and laid his head on Bucky’s arm. He was almost asleep when Bucky cleared his throat, nudging Steve back to consciousness.  
“Um, hey Steve?”  
“Yeah Buck?” Steve mumbled.  
“Can’t feel my fingers.”  
“Ah I’m sorry.” Steve quickly sat upon his elbow and cast a concerned look at Bucky’s arm that he’d been lying on. His fingers wiggled stiffly.  
“Nah it’s fine, maybe just scoot up a bit, um, yeah, there you go.”

Steve scooched up, hesitated for a second, and then gently put his head on Bucky’s chest, and tentatively reached his left arm over Bucky’s torso, letting his hand drape over Bucky’s right side, smooth skin beneath his fingertips. Otherwise his arm would’ve draped uncomfortably between them. It was way more comfortable over Bucky’s chest. 

“This ok?” Steve asked, looking up at Bucky’s blue eyes.  
Bucky sharply exhaled a small breath that sounded like he’d been holding it.  
“Yeah that works.”  
“Thanks Bucky.” 

Bucky lifted up his left arm and wrapped it around Steve’s slim shoulders. They laid there for a while listening to the ocean and enjoying the feeling of the salt scented breeze on their face, and finally dry skin.  
Bucky began to absent mindedly play with the slight curls at the nape of Steve’s neck. Steve’s mother usually kept his hair pretty short, but it was summer and Sarah was back in Brooklyn so Steve let his hair grow a little longer than he usually did. Playing in the ocean every day and drying out in the sunshine had made Steve’s hair curl up at the ends and become even lighter. 

“You awake Stevie?” Bucky whispered so softly it almost got lost in the breeze.

Bucky could feel light steady puffs of air across his chest indicating that Steve was fast asleep. He turned his attention up at the sky and thanked every one of those stars, and the big guy who put them up there, for giving him Steve as his best friend. Bucky was eventually lulled into sleep, coaxed by the roar and rush of the ocean, and the sound of the wind as it rushed through the beach grass all around them. In that moment, life was perfect.


End file.
